Avalyne Series 01: The Queen of Carleon Read Online Free PDF Page B

look of amusement, wondering how an thousand year old elf could be so naïve at times.
    ‘ Well I suppose he did seem rather cheery after the fact,’ Aeron mused. ‘Grinning ear to ear as a matter of fact. It was rather unnerving.’
    Kyou rolled his eyes once again and muttered, ‘Aeron, you are in sore need of female company.’
    *****
    If an invitation was sent to the tower in the mountains of the Jagged Teeth, there would have been no one to receive it.
    A week before the first of the riders had set off Tamsyn the last of the ancient Order of the Enphilim had left his secluded retreat to ride with all haste to the Wanderer’s Wood so as to take counsel with Queen Lylea. The journey was long but such was the urgency of the situation that he dared not stop for too long.
    What he had seen in his Scrying Pool would not allow him the time.
    Following the Yantra River as far as he could, he turned inland and took refuge at Angarad, the home of the men and women who considered themselves the greatest warriors of Avalyne. While Tamsyn knew of a few elves who might disagree with them, the Angarad had kept Balfure out of their lands although that achievement had come at a bloody cost. It had also stunted the growth of the kingdom as the business of Angarad for the next thirty-five years became dependent on servicing the war effort.
    Gaining a fresh mount at their capital city of Wyndfyre, Tamsyn set out again. This time, with the great Baffin Range flanking his southward journey and did not stop until he reached the city of Cereine, now once again apart of the kingdom of Carleon.
    After the fall of House Icara, Carleon had been broken up into city states under the occupation by Abraxes. It was usually Balfure’s habit to kill the ruling families and replace its rulers with puppets of his own. As it had been with House Icara, House Paden was also brutally purged. However, while Balfure had unintentionally left Dare alive, in the case of House Paden, he had allowed the survival of Selkirk, House Paden’s youngest son.
    Selkirk, who was born with a weak leg that left him hobbling and a speech impediment that had him stuttering most words appeared to be of little consequence to Balfure. It suited the Shadow Lord’s cruel sense of humour to leave the seemingly frightened boy in charge of the city. Except that while Selkirk might appeared outwardly feebly, there was an agile mind beneath the surface that was soon able to manipulate the situation enough to ensure that his people enjoyed some freedoms under his rule.
    Dare saw this when he came to consult with Selkirk, and so he regarded the Lord of Cereine with the respect he was due. Enlisting Selkirk’s aid to build his alliance, Dare had presented Selkirk to the rest of the Alliance as someone who had his full confidence. For that respect, Selkirk had put the full support of Cereine behind the exiled king until Dare was able to win his throne and reunite Carleon. After the war, Dare legitimized Selkirk’s standing as the head of House Paden and also made him Lord of the Northern Province, providing him an army to defend the realm from the remnants of Balfure’s Berserkers.
    Selkirk’s gratitude towards the king ensure d that Tamsyn was provided with the hospitality of his house before he resumed his journey once more.
    Within two days of leaving Cereine, Tamsyn arrived at the court of Eden Taryn, home of Lylea, the High Queen of the elves.
    It was not for nothing that Lylea held such a high station among her contemporaries. She had been a young woman during the Primordial Wars, when the Celestial Gods battled Maelog or Mael as he was known later, for the future generations of Avalyne. Tamsyn had been intermediary between elf and the gods, revealing their will to the Immortals as they battled Mael and the dark things that god had spawned to rule Avalyne.
    Even then she had been unique among the elves for none had the prescience she possessed. Her father Antion, was the